The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-02-23
The Rochester Meeting.

we continue our report OF the meet
ing of the Board of Agriculture al
Rochester by giving the balance of Pro
fessor Cookies paper on
RENovATING VERMONT FARMS"
Fine raw bone applied to the soil, he
said, will be dissolved a good deal the
first year, and the second year about all
will be made available. The grading
of ground bone is as follows: That part
which will run through sieve contain
ing fifty meshes to the inch is fine; that
which will go through a twenty-fve-
mesh, medium fine; a twelve-mesh
medium coarse; above that, coarse.
Farmers must invest in fertilizers in
such manner as to get their returns
the first year, and to do this the coarser
portions must be dissolved with acid.
The coarse may be mixed with oil of
vitriol, and when that is dissolved stir
in the fine bone. For use in perma-
nent meadows it need not be dissolved
The plant needs three forms of plant
food-nitrogen, phosphoric acid and pot
ash. The bone supplies but two of
these, lacking the potash, and where
shall we look for that? Where wood
ashes are cheap, that is the cheapest
source of supply, good ashes containing
five per cent of soluble and two per
cent of insoluble potash; it also con-
tains some phosphoric acid. 1t is diff
cult to get farmers to use potash salts
lntelligently; they are so concentrated
they would apply such quantities as
would be likely to do damage rather
than good to the crop. 1t has been diff
ficult to get these materials in this
state, but now several firms are keep
ing them. In value the potash salts
are just about equal in value to good
ashes at seventeen cents per bushel.
All the values given in the analyses of
commercial fertilizers are the CONNER
cial values-not what they would be
worth to the farmer TO apply to his soil,
which might be more or might be less
and which will vary on different soils
and in different seasons. In using pot
ash salts very small amount will be
needed but they should be mixed with
something to give more bulk, so they
may be evenly distributed over the soil.
If near a market the kainit might be
cheapest to use, but if it has to be
freighted it will cost Just as much per
ton as the muriate of potash, which
contains four times as much potash and
is twenty times as strong as the ordi-
nary commercial fertilizer, and must be
used with great care. The safest way
is to dissolve it in water and then mix
it with three hundred pounds of dry
earth. la shipping fertilizers it is de-
sirable to get them in as concentrated
a form as possible; in applying them
increase the bulk, and so decrease the
strength to given bulk.
The second method is by feeding con-
centrated foods to the animals on the
farm. Concentrated foods contain, be-
side their food values, large amount
OF fertilizing material, which is left after
their feeding value has been taken by
the stock. AS this comes properly I'M
der the subject treated by Mr.. Lane in
his paper on the 1.-Two Values of
Feeds" this will be left.
The third way is by saving all the
fertilizers made on the farm. The
farms are run down because of the
wastes of fertilizers which have been
going on for years. Fertilizers made on
the farm are the cheapest and the best.
The liquid manure is the most valuable
and the most wasted. 1t is worth four
times as much as the solid portions of
the manure. If the liquid were saved
in tank it would seem as if it were all
saved; but we do not get it all, and
better results to crops are secured
when it is mixed with absorbents and
applied than when applied in liquid
form. What should be used for alb
sorbents? Almost anything will do.
Saw-dust, muck, SANDAL are good,
and horse manure is one of the very
best. We hear good deal about evapo-
ration of manure, but this can only
take place under certain circumstances
Potash and phosphoric acid cannot
evaporate. If you put bones in the
stove and burn them, the potash and
phosphoric acid still remain. Nitrogen
will evaporate, but not much if absorb
ents are used. Manure does not lose
because it is out-Of-doors, but because
of the water which washes out the
more valuable portions. Gypsum (com-
mon land plaster) is the very best alb
sorbent to hold the nitrogen, which is
more commonly present as ammonia,
and 1t is better to use plaster as an alb
sorbent than to use it directly on the
soil. On gravelly soils the manure
will be lost sooner than on heavier soils;
the more clay in soil, the more closely
it will hold plant-food If such soil is
put in pot and liquid fertilizer
poured on in sufficient quantity to run
through, the soil will hold the plant
food and only clear water will come
out. Plants use nitrogen in the form
of nitric acid, and in stable manure the
nitrogen is in an organic form which
plants cannot take until it is changed to
the nitric acid. No manure can be used
by plants till it is broken down and dis
solved, and in dry seasons the process
is greatly retarded or stops entirely,
and manure is of no more use then
than so much stone, 1t is safe to draw
it out in the fall or early winter, when